Batman: noir interactive comic as a replacement for the film

My husband, like many, simply adores one character from the DC universe. He tries not to miss cartoon series, films, comics and, of course, games with his participation. But what to do when the release of the expected film is cancelled?? Put on a pirate costume and run to watch the screen? I have a better idea! Let’s remember one great game about Batman that everyone has already forgotten about.

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We all know the story of this hero, and we are rarely surprised by doing something new with it. In comics, of course, the character was even turned into a dinosaur, but in other media products this does not happen often.

I would like to point out right away that I haven’t seen the new film with Robert Pattinson yet, but there is a feeling that he played with the canons. So, for example, I can say with confidence that in the new film Gordon was definitely in prison. Well, you remember how prison changes a person?

So, I would like to talk about a game about Batman that anyone can play, even from their phone. But this text is not a review of the game Batman: the Telltale Series, it is about the fact that canons sometimes need to be broken.

When a person hears “Game from Telltale” in his head, as a rule, an image of the project immediately forms. The games of this studio are mostly made in the genre of interactive cinema. Like games from Quantic Dreams or Supermassive Games, only with a much smaller budget. It would be more appropriate to say that these are more likely interactive series, or even comics. The game is divided into episodes that were not released immediately, and each of them had to wait. And Batman: the Telltale Series is a game with all the studio’s hallmarks. Here, most of the game consists of cinematic scenes with character dialogues and fights, and viewer involvement is achieved through the ability to select lines, actions and fights using the "Quick Time Event".

The peculiarity of the story is that the emphasis is not on Batman – a superhero in a suit, but on Bruce Wayne. Here our beloved hero does not pretend to be a playboy. Here he actively helps his native Gotham, taking part in the political life of the city. The game immediately states that DC has given the developers a free hand and allowed them to do whatever they see fit with their characters. It’s a self-contained universe.

But more on the plot https://gamesnotongamstop.co.uk/review/lucki-casino/ later. The game looks like a comic book come to life. My husband had previously completed this game without me, and when he entered it again, he was pleasantly surprised that the game had the option of a noir mode. And how prettier she has become! The picture began to look juicy and gained some individuality compared to other projects from the same studio. This color scheme also helps in directing, since highlighting certain elements with a different color accentuates the right attention.

Of course, in addition to the style, one can see jerky animations and not very smooth movements, but all this is compensated by the richness of frames and lively, non-static staging. Well, in the action scenes everything looks much better. Regarding fights, I’ll say that it’s almost impossible to lose in them. Only if you don’t fall asleep in the process. The game gives you a lot of time to make the right press, but even if you don’t press it in time, the animation will not change. To lose, you probably have to forget to connect the gamepad.

An interesting element is that sometimes before a major battle Batman needs to plan his attack. And before we realize our victory, we can choose how this or that enemy will be mutilated. In a similar way, we will combine evidence at the crime scene, trying to reconstruct the picture of what happened. Well, there will also be non-repetitive gameplay elements, such as removing a bullet from your head or flying a drone on a virtual map.

And, of course, a lot of dialogues and elections await us. Like the games in the Dark Pictures series, the game gives us the opportunity to play it in the company of friends. To do this, you can enable the Crowd Play function, which allows all viewers to make selections directly from their smartphones. The option with the most votes will be decisive.

Everything starts as usual. Batman is at the beginning of his career as the Dark Knight and stops another crime… No, just look at this Gordon! Yes he is as big as a rock. It seems to me that he can even beat Bane.

Sorry I got distracted. To be honest, the plot does not always develop dynamically and it is really easy for a simple viewer to get distracted by their phone. My husband sometimes had to kick me.

So, Batman meets the Cat, who, you won’t believe, steals another thing. Having stopped her, we, in the role of Bruce Wayne, are holding a political round in our estate in order to promote our candidate Harvey Dent for mayor of the city.

Later, political intrigue begins. The crime boss Falcone appears, who clearly wants to maintain his order in the city. And everything seems to be familiar so far, but here the first surprise awaits us. Oswald Cablepot wants to see us, aka Penguin, with whom Bruce Wayne, it turns out, spent a lot of time as a child. Having met him, we see how his external image has been reworked.

But believe me, this is not the last surprise. There will be minor spoilers below, but they need to be mentioned in order to understand the value of the game today. So if you are afraid of spoilers, skip the next point and move on to the results.

For those who remain, I will still tell you.

The entire first episode questions the Wayne family legacy. The whole city knows them only on the positive side. They are the most famous businessmen who improved the city, sponsored all sorts of charitable organizations and remained rich at the same time. It seems impossible to do this without getting your hands dirty. So the local Waynes couldn’t.

That is, a naive boy who never questioned his parents, who made the fight against crime the goal of his life, so that the tragic event that he experienced as a child would not happen to anyone. This same boy gets hit by harsh reality. As a result, we will have to watch how Bruce Wayne will survive this crisis, what kind of revolution the Penguin started and what kind of new villain this is, representing his organization “Children of Arkham”. And believe me, the answer to this question will surprise you, not like in Arkham Knight.

The developers of Batman: the Telltale series play with the canons, and do it with talent. The trailer for the new Batman movie reminded me of this game in mood, so it seems to me that information about the bad nature of the Waynes will be used in the film. Perhaps the mystery man from the film, like the Penguin from the game, will know Bruce from childhood.

(I remind you that my husband and I have not watched the film yet, so please do not write in the comments whether I was right or wrong. Thank you!)

According to the results, Batman the Telltale Series is an easy game that does not require any effort from the player at all. The plot surprises even the most devoted Batman fans due to the fact that the developers were allowed to change the canon. Thanks to this, the story became unpredictable. The most unusual characters can be hiding under the mask, and each of them can die because of your choices. The version of “Shadow” that turns the game into a noir makes it incredibly stylish. But the best thing about this game is that it has a sequel, which is two heads higher than the first part. If you want to read about it too, let me know.

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